Furnace-charging apparatus



Jung 26,1923. 1459.994

1A1 c. NELSON FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 4, 1920 4 She ets-Sheet 1 l/wz/vrom ALf/Pto 63 42250 June 26, 1923. 1,459,984

A. C. NELSON FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 4, '1920 4. Sheets-Sheet 2 Fla. 2.

A. c. NELSON FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS June 26, 1923.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 4, 1920 June 26, 1923.

' .A. c. NELSON FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 4, 1920 4 Sheets-Sheet Patented June 26, i923.

NE in star ALFRED C NELSON, F LAKEVTOOD OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE WILLIAM B. POLLOCK COMPANY, OF YOUNGSTOWN, 01-110, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

FURNACE-CHARGING APPARATUS.

Application filed December 4, 1920. Serial No. 428,247.

To a?! whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALFRED C. NELSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lakewood, in the county of Cuyahoga and 5 State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Furnace-Charging Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is applicable to blast fur If) naces or other combustion furnaces into which material such as fuel, ore and fluxes are charged through an opening at the top of the furnace.

In the charging of furnaces of the character mentioned, it is. commonpractice to hoist the materials to the top by means of skips, the contents of which are automatically dumped into a guiding hopper which guides the material into a receiving hopper from which it is discharged into the main hopper which is capable of holding several skip loads or a round of material. Finally the material is discharged from the main hopper into the furnace, The materials, such as coal, coke, ore, limestone, etc., which are thus discharged into the furnace, being granular and of different grades of coarseness, or made up of what is known in the art as lumps and fines, arrange themselves in the furnace in positions dependent upon the positions that they occupied in the receiving hopper previous to 7 being discharged into the main hopper.

ft has been found that the most satisfactory results are obtained when most of the lumps lie in the center of the furnace and most of the fines lie next to the walls. This arrangement of the materials seems to give the best conditions for their combustion and reduction. If the draft through the furnace be obstructed on account of the uneven distribution of the coarse and fine materials (it will be understood that closely packed fine materials offer greater resistance to the passage of gas than do coarse materials), so that the draft is deflected against the walls of the furnace at one point more than another,'the furnace lining is attacked at that point and is burned away sooner than at other points. This results in poor economy of operation and necessitates frequent relining of the furnace. When the draft passes uniformly straight through the furnace and is not deflected against the walls at any one point more than another, the burning away or erosion of the walls is uniform over their entire surface, the operation of the furnace is the most efficient and repairs to the lining are a minimum.

In order to provide for the proper and even distribution of the coarse and fine materials various methods and means have been employed in charging blast furnaces, In

some instances rotary receiving hoppers are employed in which the receiving hopper is rotated a portion of a revolution between skip loads so that the materials are evenly distributed in the receiving hopper before being discharged into the main hopper. In other types of charging mechanisms deflecting blades are employed for effecting the desired distribution of the materials, either in the receiving hopper or as they pass from the receiving hopper into the main hopper. The principal necessity for the employmentof some sort of distributing device arises from the fact that the skips discharge their loads into the guiding hopper from one side of the top thereof always in the same direction so that a natural, one sided separation of the coarse and fine materials takes place as the skip load chutes into the gui.d ing hopper, resulting, unless some formof distributing device is used, ina more orless regular but undesirable and unbalanced dis tribution of materials in the furnace.

In present constructions, where two skips are employed, side by side, for charging a furnace, separate tracks for each skip are necessary which tracks must be spaced a suflicient distance apart to provide for passing clearance between the ascending and descending skips. This necessitates the use of a guiding hopper of sufficient width or diameter to receive the contents of the skips arriving at the top on either track.

Among the objects of my invention are the provision of means for discharging the materials from the skip through the guiding hopper so that the coarse and fine materials will always assume substantially the same tween the discharging positions of the two skips of a double skip charging apparatus and to receive the contents of each skip. as it comes to the top and is discharged; the pro vision of stationary guiding hoppers above the path of the traveling car adapted to receive the contents of the skips as they are dumped and to deliver it downward directly into the center of the traveling car or receiving hopper; the provision of means for automatically traversing the traveling car between the stationary guiding hoppers and so timing the movement of the traveling car that it will receive the contents of each skip as it is discharged; the provision of means for rotating the traveling receiving hopper; the provision of means for traversing the receiving hopper over the top of the main hopper of the furnace; and the provision of means for discharging the contents of the traveling receiving hopper into the main hopper of the furnace.

These and otherobjects of my invention are accomplished by use of the mechanism described in this specification and shown in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of the top of a blast furnace equipped with my furnace charging mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in sec tion, of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section through the main hopper and traveling car showing the sealing bells open for discharging the contents of the traveling car into the main hopper;

Fig. 1 is a view, partly in section on hne IV-JV of Fig. 2, showing the means I prefer to employ for controlling the rotating and traversing movements of the traveling car so that it willbe in position to receive the contents of the skip and will then be rotated tothe desired angular position before-discharging it into the main hopper. 5 is a fragmentary vertical axial sec tion through the top of the traveling car.

Fig. 6- is a fragmentary portion of a cross section drawn to an enlarged scale through the electric circuit controlling device, the section being taken on line VI-Vl. of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a section on line VII-VII of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8" is a diagram of the electrical connections of one of the controlling circuits.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the top of a blast furnace, having the usual charging opening, 2, which is closed by the sealing hell, 3. A frame work, 4, of suitable constructionis provided for supporting the charging mechanism. In the drawings there is shown a double skip charging apparatus in which the skip-hoist ropessheaves are shown at 5 and 6. One of the skips is shown at 7 'in'position for discharging its contents into the stationary guiding hopper, 8. The other stationary guiding hopper which is adapted to receive and guide the contents .of

the other skip into the traveling receiving hopper is shown at 9. r

I prefer to make the body of the traveling car, or receptacle, 10, in the form of a vertical cylinder and to support it upon an annular ball or roller bearing, 11, near its upper end so that the body of the car may rotate about its vertical axis. In Fig. 5,bear-- ing, 11, is shown in cross section as a thrust ball bearing. An annular ring, 12, secured to the car body, 10, carries the upper ball race, 13, while a corresponding annular ring, 14, supports the lower ball race, 15. The annular ring, 14, is carried by or forms a part of the frame, 16, of a wheeled truck, the wheels, 17, of which are supported by and run upon rails, 18, which are secured to and supported by the frame work, 4. The car body, 10, has a hopper bottom, 19, having a central discharge openinghaving a bell closure, 20., The bell, 20, is guided in limited vertical movements by means of a rod, 21, secured to the bell and mounted for vertical sliding movement in the hub, 22, of a spoked ring, 23, which may be secured to the inner wall of the car body, 10. A protecting hood, 24:, is provided for the rod, 21. A shouldered head, 25, upon the rod, 21, is adapted to rest upon the shoulder, 26, of the hub, 23, and support the bell, 20, in its open position. Rail sections (preferably monorail), 27, are supported upon the frame work, 4;, below the bottom and in line with the path of movement of car, 10. The bell, 20, is supported and held closed by resting upon a swivel truck, 28, having wheels, 29, adapted to run upon the rail sections, 27 and upon the top of the bell, 3. The rail sections, 27, are, preferably, slightly inclined upwardly away from the hell, 3, so that the weight of car, 10, will be to some extent, supported by bell. 20, while receiving the load from a skip. This insures a tight closure of hell, 20, to prevent the fine materials from escaping through the bell joint at this time. As the car travels tothe center of the furnace the wheels, 29, will roll upon the hell, 3, and the weight of hell, 20, together with the weight of the materials in the car supported by bell, 20, will be imposed upon bell, 3. Bell, 3, which is the closure for the top charging-opening of the furnace is at this point the sole means for'holding closed bell, 20, which is the closure for the bottom-opening of car, 10. Bell, 3, is supported by an equalizing cross bar, 30, and vertical rods, 31, which are pivotally connected to separate beam levers, 32. Levers, 32, are supported upon fulcrum brackets, 33, which aresecured tothe frame work, 4. Fluid-actuated pistons may be provided in cylinders, 34, the piston rods of which may be suitably connected to the levers, 32, for opening and closing hell, 3. Counterweights, 35, may be placed upon the levers, 32, to balance the weight of hell, 3.

cylinder, 40. The skip-hoist ropes, 41 and 42, pass over the sheaves 6 and 5, respec tively, and extend downward to the winding drums of the skip-hoisting apparatus, which is not shown but the construction, operation and control of which are well known.

For traversing car, 10, back and forth under the stationary guiding hoppers, 8 and 9,

over the bell, 3, I prefer to employ the mechanism shown at the right hand of the top of Fig. 2, and in detail in Fig. 4. Uponthe shaft, 43, which carries the sheave, 6, and

which is lined for rotation with the sheave,

6, there is keyed a pinion, 4 4. The pinion,

44, is in driving connection with near, 45, of the car traversing apparatus. @ear, 45, is mounted upon shaft, 46, and secured there to for rotation therewith. The shaft, 46, is revolubly mounted in bearings, 47 and 48, in housing, 49. Upon the shaft, 46, there is mounted for free rotation thereon the rope drum, 50, to which there is secured the car traversing rope, 51, which is wound upon the drum in a suitable number of convolutions and fixed thereto at the approximate center of these convolutions by a clip, 52, in a well known manner. 1 53 is a magnetic friction-clutch, one member of which is secured for rotation with the shaft, 46, and the other member of which is mounted for rotation with drum, 50. 54 and 55 are electric current collecting rings which are connected to the respective terminals of an energizing coil, 56, of the magnetic-clutch, 53. Suitable brushes, 54 55, (Fig. 8), may be provided for conducting the current fro-m an electric circuit, 54*, 54, to the-collector rings, 54 and 55, in a well known manner. Geared to shaft, 46, by suitable gearing, here shown r as mitre gears, 57 and 58, is the threaded shaft, 59, upon which there is mounted an electric-contact making-and-breaking device actuator or trip, 60. The trip, 60, is caused to travel along the threaded shaft, 59, by means of a suitable nut which is secured to the trip and which may be insulatedtherefrom. The trip, 60, may have a forked or perforated projection, adapted toengage a rod, 59", in sliding relation thereto to hold the trip, 60, from rotation about the threaded shaft, 59. Trip, 60, may be insulated from rod, 59 by insulating material, 60*.

61, 62, 63, 64, and 66 are electric-contacts f or co-acting trip members for thetrip, 60.

The trip member, 61, may be connected to operate or be a part of anyconvenient form of circuit making and breaking device such as the switch blade, 61*, which connects or disconnects the terminals, 61*, and 61, in well known manner as shown. A spring,

61*, may be employed to normally close the switch. i

One end, 67, of rope, 51, is secured to one end of truck, 16, the other end, 68, of rope,

51, is secured to the other end of this truck.

Suitable rope sheaves such as 69, 70,71 and 72 may be provided for carryingthe rope about the frame work, 4, to the truck, 16.

It will be seen that the. rotation of drum,

50, will traverse the car, 10, the direction of movement of the car depending upon the direction of rotation of the drum. I prefer to provide the hoppers, 8 and 9,.with horizontallysliding gates, 73 and 74, to prevent any material which may hang in the guiding hoppers from falling out of them after the travelin car has mbved out from un der them. rates, 73 and 74, may be oper- V ated by, means of brackets, 7 5 and 76, which are adapted to be engaged by the respective ends of truck, 16, and to be opened by the movement of the truck as it brings the car, 10, into position under the guiding hopper for receiving materials therefrom. Suitable rope-connected weights, 77 and 78, may bepro-vided for closing the gates, 73 and 74, as the truck. 16, moves away from them.

The rotation ofcar, 10, may be controlled by suitable well known electrical or other controlling means preferably automatic, arranged so-that'both the traversing and rotation of the car are caused to take place in predetermined order and in repeated cycles so long as the furnace is being charged. For rotating the car, 10, I prefer to employ a motor such ELSBllOWIl at 79 which may be secured tothetruck-frame, 16, and geared to the rotating car-body, 10, by means of the worm, 80, which is rotated by the motor shaft, and engages the toothed. worm-wheel or ring, 81, which surrounds and is secured to the car-body. The motor, 79, may be of any suitable known type. Its operation is preferably effected by any suitable, well known remote-control system, the timing of its operating and idle periods being accomplished by means of the contact makingandbreaking device or trip, 60.

It will be understood that the purpose of rotating the car, 10, is so that it may distents of a skip and while the car is movingto its position over the furnace chargingopening where it is to empty its contents into the main hopper. The tendency of the materials to be deposited in the furnace in any uniformly undesirable manner is overcome by thus rotating car 10. Its'elfect upon the distribution of the materials in the furnace 1S the same as would be accomplish ed by discharging the skip loads into a stationary circular hopper at diilerent points around its circumference but which is, of course, impracticable.

To further explain the purpose and method of rotating the car, 10,-assumethat it is desired to discharge successive rounds of materialat points a hundred and. twenty degrees or one-third of a revolution apart relativeto the position of the car when revoeivi'ng the contents of theskips. In such Ell) - rotate d say one third of a. revolution and hasdischarged its contents into the main.

case the car, 10, may not be rotated at all while chargingthe first round; while'charg ing the secondround theicar, after receiving each skip load and before discharging it into the main hopper, may be rotated a hundred and twenty degrees, in one direction, from the position itwas inwhile charging the first'round; and while charging the third round the car, after receiving each skip load and beforedischargingit into themain hopper, may be; rotated a hundred and twenty degrees, in the opposite direction, from the position it-was in while charging the first round. This cycle of movements may be repeated as long the the furnace being charged.

It is evident that by suitably arranging the Econ rolling devices the car may be rotated any desired fraction 01 4], revolution and that any desired number-oil skip" loads maybe successively deposited in the main hopperwithout rotating'the car.

It is also evident thatthc desired angular position of the car when discharging as" compared-to the position it was in when receiving its'load can he reachedbv rotatino the car always in the same direction without reve 1t or the means which rotates it. For instance, when'the carhas received a skip'load from ,e uiding hopper, 8, traveled to the center ot the furnace, meantime being hopper it may then travel on to receive a the center ot the furnace, meantime being rotated another thirdof a revolution, and discharge the material from hopper, 9, i

1 1 1 o I u i o tee same angular position it was in, relative to the position it was in whenlt received its load, as when discharged the material ijroin hopper, 8.

The complete operation of my charging the skip, 7, starts down the track, the other skip (not shown) which has just received its load at the bottom of the track, starts up. Shea-ve, 6, rotated by rope, 41, imparts its movements to shaft, 46, by means of Clutch, 53, being in engagement, the drum, 1

50, will be rotated by shaft, 46, and car, 10, will. move to the right as seen in Fig. 2, until trip, 60,-en'gages trip, 61, and opens the circuit which energizes the magnetic clutch, When this occurs, traversing movement of car, 10, will stop untilthe trip, 60, has passed over the trip,'6l, and the electric circuit through theenergizing coil, 56, is again established The car, 10, which has received a skip load from skip, 7, is first stopped in its right hand movement when it is over the hell, 3. During the time that-the car is stopped over hell, 3, cylinder, 34, will be operated to lower the bell, 3, which will permit bell, 20, of car, 10, to open and'the contents of the car to be discharged into the main hopper of the furnace. Upon the contents of the car, 10, being discharged into the furnace the hell, 3, will be closed. by cylinder, 3-1, and. counterweight, 35. The bell, 20, will also be closed by the truck,28, being lifted by the bell, 3, and the car, 10, will be ready to move into position to receive a charge from guiding hopper, 9.

l Vhenthe car, 1O, arrives at the proper p0 sitionfunder guiding hopper, 9, the skip which serves that hopper will be discharged into it and the car, 10, 'willstart back towards the center of its traversing'movement due to the reversal of the direction of travel of the skip hoist ropes and the consequent reversal of the direction'ot rotation of drum, 50, which is rotated by its driving connection with sheave, 6. When the car, 10, upon its return movement, arrives over the hell, 3, it will again be stopped'by the opening of the energizing circuit of clutch, 53, by trip, 60, which at this point engages trip, 61. The contents of the car may now be discharged into the main hopper after which its movement toward guiding hopper, 9, will be resumed when trip, 60, has passed beyond trip, 61, and the clutch energizing circuit hasbeen reestablished. It will be seen that as the truck, 16, moved to the right from hopper, 8, gate, 73, was automatically closed by counterweight,78, and that gate, 74, was automatically opened by the bracket, 76, being'engaged by the right hand end of truck, 16. WVhen the car, 10, has received its charge through guiding hopper, 9, it will be traversed to the left, stop over the center of the furnace and be discharged intothe main hopper of the furnace. During the traversing movements of car, 10, it may be rotated 01' not, in the manner already described In a similar manner trips, 62, 63, 64, and 66 may be connected to open other circuits for controlling the operation of motor, 79, for rotating the car, 10, or for controlling the operation of any other motor or,

motors which may be employed to actuate other devices such as the valves which control the inlet and exhaust ports of cylinders, 34 and 40. I Other timing trips similar to that shown at 60 may be carried and moved by the threaded rod, 59, for coa'cting with the stationarytrips, 62, 63, 64, 65 and 66 in anydesired manner and it will be unden stood thatthe stationary trips may be so spaced that the circuits they control will be opened and closed at the proper times. It will be understood that the time period during which the master switches, such as 61, are held open by the trips, such as 60, is de termined by the widths of thecontacting faces of the trips. In Fig. 7 the top face of member 61 is shown of considerable width in the direction of traverse of trip, 60, in order that the car, 10, may remain stationary while it is discharging its contents into the furnace. For the specific forms of the trips and of the controlling switches employed I make no claim as such devices are well known in the art. It will be understood that for controlling of the opera tion of the-motor, 7 9, which rotates the car, 10, or any other motor or device subject to remote electric control, any convenient electro-magnetic device may be used and that its position in the electric circuit controlled by the trip. 60, will be similar to the brushes. 5%? and 55 shown in Fig. 8.

It will be understood that I have shown in the drawings and described herein only one embodiment of my invention and that modifications thereof may be made without departing from its scope provided such modifications embody the structure or combination of elements described in any of the following claims.

1. In furnace charging apparatus, a furnace having a top-opening and a closure therefor, a rotatable, traveling car adapted to be moved back and forth over said furnace, said car having a bottom-opening adapted to register with said top-opening and a closure for said bottom-opening, means for loading material into said car when it is at one side of said furnace, means for moving said car back and forth across said furnace, means for rotating said car, and means for opening and closing said closures when they are in registering position.

2. In furnace charging apparatus, a fur nace having a top-opening and a closure therefor, a car support, a traveling car on said bottom-opening, and means for simultaneously opening said closures when said openings are in registering position.

3. In furnace charging apparatus, a fur nace having a top-opening and a closure 7 therefor, a traveling car above said furnace having a bottom-opening adapted to regis ter with said top-opening and a closure for said bottom-opening, and common means for opening said closures when they are in registering position.

4. In a charging device for furnaces, a

car upon which the car may be made to travel over the top of the furnace to be charged, said oar having a bottom-opening adapted to register with the charging-opening in the top of the furnace and a closure for said bottom-opening, a hopper above the path of movement of said car adapted to guide materials into said car when the car is under the hopper, means for opening said closure when said bottom-opening is over said charging-opening and means for rotating said car.

5. In furnace charging apparatus, a "car support, a rotatable, traveling car on said support, said car being adapted to travel over the top of the furnace to be charged and having a discharge-opening adapted to register with the charging-opening of said furnace, a hopper above the path of said car adapted to guide materials into said car when the car is under the hopper, said hopper having a discharge. opening and a closure therefor, means for opening said closure as the car moves toward its loading position under the hopper, means for closing said closure as the car moves away from said loading position, means for trave'rsing said car on said support and means for rotating said car while it is being traversed.

6. In furnace charging apparatus, a furnace having a top-charging-opening and a closure therefor, a guiding-hopper supported above the top of said furnace at one side 86 rotatable, traveling car, a support for said of said charging-opening, a rotatable traveling-car, a guiding-support for said car, said car being adapted to be moved back and forth on said support under said hopper and over said charging-opening, said car having 7. Infurnace charging apparatus, a furnace having a top charging-opening and a closure therefor, a guiding-hopper supported above said furnace at one side of said chargingopening, a rotatable traveling car, a guiding-support for said car, said car being adaptedto be moved back and forth on said support under said hopper and over saidgcharging-opening, said car having a top-opening adapted to register with the discharge-opening of said hopper and a bottom-opening adapted to. register with the charging-opening of said furnace, a closure for the bottom-opening of said car, a hoisting skip for bringing materials to the top of said hopper and depositing them a'slripload at a time in said hopper, means for traversing said car, means for rotating said car, means controlling the movements of said car and said skip to cause their respective movements to take place in predetermined order and meansfor opening and closing said closures.

8. In furnace charging apparatus a furnace having a top charging-opening and a downwardly opening closure therefor, a traveling oar having a bottom-opening and a downwardly opening closure therefor, a support for said car adapted to support and guide said car in lateral movements across the top of said, furnace to at one point in themovement of thecar cause said bottomopening to register with said chargingopening, supporting means for holding said closure for said bottom-opening closed, said supporting means including said closure for for, opening and closing said, closure for said charging-opening.

, 9. In furnace charging mechanism, a furnace having a top charging-opening and a downwardly opening closure therefor, a traveling car having. a bottom-opening and a downwardly opening closure therefor, a support for said traveling car, a track-support for said second named closure adapted to hold said'second named closure closed, said first named closure forming a section of said track-support, and means for opening and closing said first named closure.

10. In furnace charging apparatus, a furnace having a top charging-opening and a closure therefor, closure-operating means, a car support, a traveling car above said furnace adapted to be traversed on said car support, said car having a bottom dischargeopening adapted to register with said top charging-opening, a closure for said discharge-opening, mcans for holding saidsecond named closure closed throughout the traversing movements of said car, said do sure-operating means being adapted tosimultaneously operate both said closures when said openings are in registering position. 7

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ALFRED o. NELSON. 

